Garment hanger frames



March 22, 1960 L. M. DOUGLASS 2,929,538

GARMENT HANGER FRAMES Filed July 29, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

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ATTORNEY.

United dtates Eat-eat 6 GARMENT HANGER FRAMES Lois Marie Douglass, Wichita, Kane. Application July 29, 1957, Serial No. 674,696

2 Claims. (Cl. 22369) My invention relates to an improvement in garment hanger frames for holding garments in proper shape during the process of drying after the garment has been washed. The frame is made more particularly for holding dresses, blouses, jackets and the like.

An object of my invention is to provide a garment holder frame of the kind mentioned that is made of material of an appreciable thickness and the supporting edges of the material are smooth and rounded so that no creases or hanger marks are imparted to the goods of the garment during the drying period of time.

Another object of my invention is to provide a garment hanger of the kind mentioned that is light in weight, one that is strong, durable and long lived. A still further object of my invention is to provide a device of the kind mentioned that has an easy and long range of adjustment whereby the device may be regularly ad justed for almost any size and style of garment.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a device of the kind mentioned that is applicable for han ing garments thereon for storage purposes and due to the construction of the device, the garment hung thereon for long periods of time will show no creases or impressions of the device where the device engaged the garment for the support thereof.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a device of the kind mentioned in which the adjusting elements are simple and easy to operate and no tools are necessary to make the adjustments of the device. These and other objects of the invention will be more fully described and explained as this description progresses.

Now referring to the accompanying drawings in which similar numerals of reference designate the same parts throughout the several figures of the drawings; Fig. 1 is a front view of the assembled device.

Fig. 2 is a side view of the device, the view being as seen from the right side of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a front view of the device in which the upper portion is to be used in drying a blouse, sweater, or the like, and the lower portion of the device has been removed since there is no use therefor in the instance shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail sectional view through a portion of the device, the view being as seen from the line IVIV in Fig. 1, and looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 5 is a front view of a dress and illustrating how the hanger device may be placed within the dress and stretch the several portions of the dress to the desired proportions whereupon the dress and hanger may be hung up and left for the dress to dry in the shape and proportions established by the support device.

Fig. 6 is a front view of the hanger device, the device having been taken apart and the pieces thereof stacked for compacting purposes, so that the device can be laid away for storage in a small space until the device is again wanted for use.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged detail'sectiona'l view through a 2,929,538 Patented Mar. 22, 1960 portion of the hanger device and illustrating a method of fastening pieces of the structure together at points where adjustments of the device may be made.

In the drawings the device is shown as having an upper garment stretcher portion composed of the elements A, B, C, D, E and the device is further provided with a skirt stretcher portion F, G, H, I. The skirt stretcher portion just mentioned may easily and quickly be attached to and detached from the upper waist stretcher portion, of the device as will later be described. The upper frame member A is provided with a supporting hook element J, the straight shank J and a sleeve nut L is threaded on the bottom end of the shank J to prevent the shank J' from pulling out of the hole Kand thereby providing a support for the entire device.

The sleeve nut L is provided with a cut or screwdriver eye L in which a screwdriver may be inserted and the nut L may be turned to fit tightly on the shank J or the sleeve nut L may be turned to remove the sleeve nut L from the shank J as the case may be.

The upper frame element A is further provided with a padded covering A that covers the upper edge of the member A as well as the sides thereof to provide a soft supporting element for a garment so as to avoid the garment being creased as a result of prolonged hanging of the garment on the hanger.

Each outer end of the top frame member A has a plurality of transverse or horizontally positioned holes as indicated at 10, 11 and 12; and 10', 11' and 12'. The upper end of the side frame pieces B and C each have a hole 13 and 13' therein and the hole 13 may be placed in registry with any selected hole 10, 11 or 12 and a bolt 14 may be passed therethrough and a sleeve nut 15 threaded thereon to solidly attach the upper end of the side frame B to its respective end of the upper cross frame member A; similarly the hole 13 in the upper end of the side frame member C may be placed in registry with any selected hole 10', 11' or 12' in the other end of the cross frame member A and a bolt 14' may be passed therethrough and a sleeve nut 15' may be threaded on the bolt 14 to rigidly attach the side frame member C to its respective end of the upper cross frame member A while the side frame members B and C can be rigidly fixed on the upper cross frame member A by tightening the sleeve nuts 15 and 15', The sleeve nuts can be loosened slightly and the lower end of the side frame members B and C can be swung toward and away from each other for adjusting purposes as will later be described. The lower end portions of the side frame members -B and C each have a plurality of spaced apart holes 16 and 16' therein for adjustment purposes as will later be described. The upper frame portion of the device is provided with a lower strut frame element that is composed of two pieces D and E. One end of each piece D and E having a hole such as indicated at 17 and 17. The holes 17 and 17' may be brought into registry with any selected hole in their respective groups of holes 16 and 16' in the side frame members B and C, whereupon bolts 18 and 18 may be passed through the registering holes 16 and 16' and 17 and 17' and sleeve nuts 19 and 19 may be threaded on their respective bolts 18 and 15' to attach the strut member D to its side frame member B and the strut member E to its respective side frame member C and whereby the free ends of the strut members D and E will lie sideways one against the other and may be moved longitudinally to increase or decrease the distance between the lower ends of the side members B and C for purposes of adjustment as will later be described.

The free or overlapping ends of the strut members D and E have a plurality of notches 20' and 21in the edges thereof and certain of these notches 26 and 21.will

' comeintoregistry witheach other as the strut members 7 hold the strut members D and E in their adjusted positions to adjust the width of the lower portion of the upper frame structure of the device. a V

Another object of using the rubber bands 22 and 23 is that if a garment is put on a stretcher device and the garment is extremely tight, the rubber bands 22 and 23 will stretch slightly and provide a slight narrowing of the stretcher frame without the bands 22 and23-being dislodged frcm their respective notches and 21 and thereby avoid injury or breakage or collapsing of the frame due to the tightness of the garment being stretched thereon. V p

The lower, or skirt stretcher portion of the device consists of a pair of side members F and G, the upper ends of which, each have a hole 24 and 24' and to attach the upper end of the pieces F and G to the upper frame portion above described, the sleeve nuts 19 and 19' would be removed from their respective bolts 18 and 18' and the holes 24 and 24' in the side members F and G would be placed in registry with the holes 17 and 17 and the shanks of the sleeve nuts 14 and 15 may be fitted within the holes 24 and 24 of the side members F and G and then screwed onto their respective bolts 14a, to bind and hold the lower side frame members F and G to the bottom corners of the upper frame assembly and at the points 15 and 15'. The lower end portion of each side frame member F and G has a series of spaced apart holes 25 and 26 therein for adjustment purposes as will later be described. The lower or skirt section of the stretcher frame has a lower strut element that is composed of two members H and 1. One end of each of the two strut members H and I have a hole therein, 27 and 28 and these holes 27 and 28 may 'be placed in registry with any selected hole in their respective group 25 and 26, whereupon, bolts 29 and 30 may be passed through their respective holes 25, 26, 27 and 28 and sleeve nuts 31 and 32 may be threaded on the bolts 29 and 30 to bind and hold the outer ends of the strut members H and I-to their respective side members F and G and the free ends of the strut members H and I will overlap and lie one against the other and are each longitudinally movable for adjustment purposes to increase or decrease the width of the bottom portion of the lower or skirt stretcher portion of the device. Except for length, the two strut sections H and I are substantially the same as the strut elements D and E. That is, the upper and lower edges of the strut bars H and I have spaced apart notches 33 and 34 therein, which as the two strut members H and I are moved longitudinally, will come into registry with each other.

The composite strut bar H-I is provided with a pair of elastic or rubber bands 35 and 36 that are spaced apart and encompass both strut bar members H and I and as the strut bar members H and I are'moved longitudinally, and the notches 33 and 34 come into registry with each other, the elastic or rubber bands 35 and 36 will seat themselves in the registering notches 33 and 34 to hold the strut members H and I in their longitudinally adjusted position and this adjusted position has more or less resilience about it, due to the elasticity of the elastic or rubber bands 35 and 36, the same as described for the strut bars D and E and their elastic or rubber bands 22 and 23, to adjust the device for a certain size garment.

The shoulder width may be adjusted by moving the upper ends of the side members B and C to the selected holes 11 and 10, or 12 and 10, or 11 and 12, whereupon the extending ends of the memberA will become an upper arm support for the garment. Next the elastic or rubber bands 22 and 23 may be lifted from their positions in the notches 20 and 21 and be positioned between any two notches 20 and 21 whereupon the strut members D and E may he slipped longitudinally to increase or decrease the distance between the points 18 and 18' to make the desired adjustment. This adjustment also makes the top adjustment of the skirt stretcher frame. This same process of adjustment may also be carried out with the lower strut members H and I and their elastic or rubber bands 35 and 36 to adjust the distance between the bolts 29 and 30.

In order to make the stretcher device light in weight and still have enough strength to do the job that is to be done, all the members B, C, D, E, F, G, H, and I, are made of thin and relatively wide strips of material such as aluminum, plywood or plastic materials would be, so that the edge strength of the material would furnish the strength and the thinness of the material would decrease the weight of the stretcher device.

It it is desired to compact the stretcher frame device for storage and transport purposes,'this may readily be done by removing the sleeve nuts 13 and 13' and 18 and 18 and the bottom ones 29 and 30 and by separating the strut members D and E and H and I from each other by slipping them from under the elastic or rubber bands 22 and 23 and 35 and 36 whereupon the several pieces of the structure frame may be disassembled each from another and placed in a neat pile as illustrated in Fig. 6 and then tied or wrapped together in a small bundle for storage or transport purposes.

In a structure of this kind and for the purpose for which it is to be used, it is important that there should be as few projecting points on the frame as possible. To avoid imprints being imparted to the garment that is being stretched and dried thereon, the bolts and cap screws and elastic or rubber bands are used for attachment and holding purposes of the several parts of the device because they offer no sharp points or abrupt projections, the shape of which might be imparted to a garment held on the stretcher device for stretching and drying purposes.

Now, while the device as shown and described is probably the preferred form of the device, it is to, be wider stood that such morifications of the device as lie within the scope of the appended claims may be employed without departing from the spirit and the intention of the invention. Now having fully shown and described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a garment stretcher device of the kind described,

said device comprising the combination of a frame structure having an upper and a lower section, said upper section having an upper cross member, a pair, of side members having a plurality of spaced apart openings in the lower end portions thereof and a two piece lower cross member, said upper cross member having centrally positioned means thereon for supporting the entire structure, the outer end portions of the upper cross member having a plurality of spaced apart attachment openings therein, one end of each side member being pivotally attached one to eachend portion of the upper cross member at selected spaced distances from the ends thereof, the two pieces of the lower cross member being positioned side by each and being slidable longitudinally one against the other for length adjustment purposes of the said lower cross member, the horizontal edge portions of the two pieces of the lower cross member-having notches therein that register each with the notches in its companion piece, elastic enveloping elements, said elastic enveloping elements being positioned around the overlapping end portion of the two pieces of the lower cross member and being seated in notches of the two pieces of the lower cross member for the resilient attach ment of the two cross memberpieces each to the other, the outer ends of the lower cross member being pivotally' attached in a selected one of the spaced apart openings in the lower end portions of each side member of the upper frame structure and at longitudinally adjusted positions along the lower end portion of the said side members, said lower frame structure having means for attaching said lower frame structure to said upper frame structure.

2. In a garment stretcher frame device of the kind described, the structure, parts and arrangement thereof as defined in claim 1, said lower frame section comprising a pair of side elements and a two piece bottom frame element, the upper ends of the side elements being pivotally attached in one of the spaced apart openings in the lower end portion of the said side elements of the upper frame section, the two pieces of the said bottom element of the said lower section being positioned side by each and being movable longitudinally for purposes of adjusting the length of the said bottom frame element, a second set of elastic elements, the last said set of elastic elements passing around the overlapping portions of the said bottom frame element, the horizontal edges of the bottom cross frame element having notches therein the said elastic enveloping element being seated in selected pairs of said notches for the resilient attachment of the two pieces together, the outer ends of the bottom cross member having pivotal attachments to the lower end portions of the side frame elements of the lower frame section.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,052,426 Ringler Feb. 4, 1913 1,893,968 Spence Ian. 10, 1933 2,120,748 Harris June 14, 1938 2,233,492 Sperry Mar. 4, 1941 2,746,657 Feathers May 22, 1956 

